Rangers vs. Panthers Eastern Conference Final preview and prediction f…

The Rangers’ clash with the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final features big-name players, big-brain coaches and big-save goalies. The Blueshirts are looking to win their first Stanley Cup since 1994 and the Cats are looking to win their first Cup since, well, ever.

Both teams have the kind of grit and jam that can make for compelling viewing – can’t wait to see Vincent Trocheck chirping at his old team. That was certainly an entertaining element of the Rangers victory over Carolina, another of Trocheck’s former stops, in Round 2.

And the Rangers and Panthers are deep and talented, too. The Rangers have five players with at least 10 points in the playoffs so far, led by Mika Zibanejad (14) and the Panthers have three, topped by Matthew Tkachuk (14). Fourteen Panthers have scored at least one goal and 13 Rangers have done the same.

Are the ascending Rangers ready to win it all in their second trip to the ECF in the last three years? Or are the Panthers, who lost last year’s Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights, prepped to go even further now?

Here’s a look at some of the top talking points of what should be a seven-game doozy…

Squad goals

Which high-powered, goal-scoring force has the bigger series, Artemi Panarin or Sam Reinhart?

Panarin made a conscious effort to shoot more this season and the result was a monster season for the Rangers, including 49 goals. He’s got four game-winners in the playoffs, too, and he could wreck the series if he gets hot. Reinhart, meanwhile, scored 57 times, second in the NHL behind only Toronto’s Auston Matthews, and has five more in the playoffs. He’ll require a lot of Blueshirt attention.

Both teams boast supplemental scoring, too – Chris Kreider may have cemented his lofty Ranger status with a natural hat trick in the clinching comeback against Carolina. Carter Verhaeghe scored 34 for Florida during the season and has six more in the playoffs. He holds the Panther record for playoff goals in…